Rectifying device.



F. W. LYLE.

RECTlFYlNG DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.14. 1912. 1,185,419, Patented May 30, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Fig. 2.

WITNESSES. INVENTUR flfl. M FRED 1M. LYL J',

f/j, ,3 .BY H15 ATTaHNE'x UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

FRED W. LYLE, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, AS SIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

RECTIFYING- DEVICE.

Patented May 30, 1916.

Application filed February 14, 1912. I Serial No. 677,608.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED 1V. LYLE, a c1t1- zen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex, State of Massa chusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rectifying Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the rectification of alternating current and comprises a system using an are or other asymmetric rectifymg device in conjunction with a synchronous mechanical rectifier for the purpose of efficiently rectifying heavy currents.

Upto the present time it has been found very diflicult to continuously rectify large amounts of electrical power. Mechanical rectifiers are subject to destructive arcing because of the impossibility of always commutating the current at the precise instant when the electromotive force is zero. I have found that this difiiculty may be overcome by combining with the commutating rectifier, an asymmetric device, such as a mercury arc, or other suitable device havingunidirectional conductivity.

-In accordance with my invention theasymmetric rectifying device, such as a mercury vapor arc, is operated in conjunction with asynchronous mechanical rectifier, or commutator, in such a manner that a certain part or. fraction of the alternating current'wave near the minimum point is carried, say, by the arc rectifier and the rest of the wave displaced from zero'is carried by-the mechanical rectifier.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 isa diagram illustrating my invention and Fig. 2 is a modification.

As shown in Fig. 1, the rotating commumounted upon a shaft 8 which is driven by a synchronous motor 9 of the four-pole type.

The motor is conveniently connected to the supply wires 6, 7 in order to operate in synchronism with the alternating current to be rectified. The path through the rectifier 10, here illustrated as a mercury vapor rectifier, between anode 11 and cathode 12 is in shunt with the commutator 2 and the athfrom the anode 13 to the cathode 12 IS in shunt with the commutator 1. The

conveniently maintained by storage battery 16 or in any other well known way.

The commutators 1 and 2 each consist of conductive and insulating segments angularly displaced with respect to each other so that they alternately carry current. The insulating segments indicated in black comprise more than 180 and are so placed that during a shortinterval before and after the instant the current to be rectified passes through zero both commutators are op ncii'cuited. The length of the total period during which both commutators are opencircuited should be at least equal to the angular variation from synchronism of the motor driving the commutators. During the interval of open-circuit, the mercury rectifier carries the current as will be described.

Suppose the polarity of the alternating voltage to be such, for example, as to make the electrode 11 positive and the voltage value to be near its maximum, the flow of current will take place through conductors 17 and 4 and the commutator 2 instead of through the rectifier, as the commutator affords a path of lower resistance than the rectifier. \Vhen the voltage approaches the zero value, the circuit through the commutator is opened and the current automatically shifts through the rectifier path by the establishment of an are between the anode l1 and the cathode 12. This shunting of the commutator by the mercury arc rectifier greatly subdues the arcing of the com mutator. However, the resistance of the arc rectifier is of such magnitude that arcing at the brushes of the mechanical rectifier is not completely avoided, for, to maintain current fiow through the vapor path,

' carry the load current.

each commutator circuit, are inserted. These may consist of a battery of iron plates placed in a solution of potassium hydroxid, or of an ordinary storage battery, or-other known appropriate means. The electromotive force of this battery should be nearly equal to the counter-electromotive force of the arc path which is virtually constant at all currents. By this meansthe arcing at the commutator is suppressed to practically the same extent as in ordinary direct current machinery.

As the voltage passes through zero and reverses, the current shifts automatically to the anode 13. Soon after the reversal of the voltage, the commutator l closes its circuit and thereby affords a lower resistance path to the current which causes the mercury arc to go out, the current passing from conductor 20, to conductor 3, the commutator 1 and to conductor 14. When the circuit is again interrupted as the voltage approaches zero value, the mercury arc is reestablished, and upon the reversal of polarity shifts to the other arm of the rectifier, where the cycle is repeated. It will thus be seen that both the mechanical commutator and the mercury arc rectifier contribute current to the load circuit 14 in which are located translating devices 21. As the current is carried by the mechanical rectifier 1, 2 during the greater part of each half cycle and also during the interval of maximum value, only a small part of the load is actually assumed by the mercury arc rectifier. Consequently very large currents can be rectified by this arrangement, as the maximum current carrying capacity of the rectifier need not be larger than the average of these small fractions of the load.

To show' what power can be delivered in practice by an apparatus of this type, there may be assumed a motor having a maximum deviation of 20 degrees from exact synchronism with the line voltage, a mercury arc device capable of carrying an average current of 50 amperes at 500 volts, and a mechanical rectifier of sufficient brush area. With sucha system, the commutator would have to carry no current during 20 degrees out of each half cycle; thus, during oneninth of the time, the mercury arc would It being assumed that the current in the mercury arc rectifier can havean average value of 50 amperes, the load current may be at least nine times this or 450 amperes which could readily be handled by the mechanical rectifier. At 500 volts, this would give with each mercury arc tube used 225 kilowatts. If a number of mercury arc tubes are operated in multiple or a mercury arc rectifier of larger capacity is used, the power derived from the apparatus is correspondingly increased.

In the system illustrated by Fig. 2, each mutator 1 were to maintain its circuit after the anode 11 has becomepositive, then a short-circuit would take place through conductor 17, the rectifier, conductor 22, commutator 1 and conductors 3 and 20. This possibility is prevented by placing a commutator 23 in conductor 17 which opens the circuit before the commutator 1 closes its circuit and only closes again after 1 has opened. Similarly, a commutator 21 in the anode lead 20 opens the circuit of anode 13 a considerable time before the commutator 2 begins to carry current and only closes again after 2 has opened.

It is not necessary that the commutator 23 close its circuit before the line voltage becomes positive from 11 to 12, as the inductance inherent in all commercial circuits will keep the arc running from the anode 13, even after the conductor 20 has become negative to the conductor 17, until a path is provided, by the closure of the commutator 23, for current flow from the anode 11. The same conditions apply to the commutator 24:. V

T-he commutator of the mechanical rectifier in the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 is provided with four insulating segments 25,

26, 27 and 28. The segments 25 and 27 are inserted to open the mercury arc circuit when the circuit of the commutator in shunt therewith is closed to insure an interruption of the mercury arc. They may be omitted, of course, when the resistance of the arcshunting commutator circuit is made suf-' ficiently low to put out the arc, as described in connection with Fig. 1. It will be observed that the synchronously operated commutators 23 and 24 with their insulating segments 26 and 28 not only prevent short circuits across the source of power through the mechanical rectifiers as above explained, but also by connecting and disconnecting the rectifier anodes alternately to and from the supply circuits, the prohibitive resistance to current flow thus provided, prevents injurious internal arcing between the anodes in the rectifier. Each anode circuit is disconnected from the supply circuit for a certain interval when the supply potential is negative. Each of these commutators is provided with sohd conductive segments roperly connected and occupying the space indicated in ground color and of insulating segments indicated in ink The commutators may be conveniently made up of ordinary commutator bars insulated by mica from the solid segments and from each other.

The particular system described above is designed for operation with a four-pole synchronous motor which revolves one-half a turn per cycle. Therefore, 180 on the commutator corresponds with 360 of the voltage cycle. When using a motor having a different number of poles, the angular relation of the segments should correspond with the number of revolutions per cycle made by the motor.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States,

1. The combination of a source of alternating current, a load circuit, an asymmetric rectifier having its terminals connected respectively to said source and said load circuit, and a synchronous mechanical rectifier connected to the terminals of said rectifier and having conductive segments proportioned to carry current during Wave fractions of the alternating source displaced from zero.

2. The combination of a source of alter-,

nating current, a synchronous mechanical rectifying device connected thereto,and an arc rectifying device coacting therewith to carry the current as it changes in direction, to the exclusion of the mechanical rectifying device. I

3. The combination of a circuit carrying an alternating current, a load circuit, mechanical switching means for delivering impulses of said alternating current to the load circuit as direct current during a part of the half cy-cle intervals, and an asym-- metric rectifying device connected to opposite poles of said switching means for delivering the remainder of the half cycle intervals when said switching means is opencircuited;

4. The combination of a circuit carrying an. alternating current, an external circuit, a commutator rotating in synchronism with the alternations of said current for delivering a portion of the impulses to said external circuit as direct current, and an arc rectifying device connected to terminals of said commutator for rectifying the alternating current while the commutator circuit is open.

5. The combination of a circuit carrying an alternating current, an external direct current consumption circuit, switching means for delivering fractions of the waves of the alternating current near their maximum value to theexternal circuit as unidi rectional current, and a mercury arc device 6 having anodes connected to the alternating thereto for delivering a portion of the alternating current waves near their maximum value to the load c1rcu1t as unidirectional current, a mercury arc rectlfier havlng lts anodes connected to the source of alternating current and its cathode to the load circuit for. delivering the remainder of the waves as unidlre'ctlonal' current, and a 'connectlon for said load circuit to a neutral point on said alternating current source.

7 The combmatlon of a source of alternating current, an external circuit, synchronous commutators, connected to said source,

to deliver a portion of the waves of the alternating current to the external circuit as direct current, an asymmetric stationary rectifying device electrically connected with said commutator for delivering the remainder of the waves as direct current, and means for disconnecting said stationary rectifying device from one pole of the source during the interval that a commutator connected to the opposite pole has closed its circuit.

8. The combination of a source of alternating current, an external circuit, a mechanical rectifying device connected to said source to deliver fractions of the'alternating current waves to the external circuit, a vapor rectifying device electrically connected to said device to carry current near the zero point of the waves, a source of counter- .electromotiveforce in series with said mechanical device to compensate for the voltage .drop in the vapor device, and-means for opening the circuit of the vapor device in synchronism with the closure of the circuit of the mechanical device.

9. A system of distribution comprising a supply circuit, a transformer associated therewith, a rectifier having its anodes con nected to the transformer, a commutator included in the connections between the transformer and the anodes of the rectifier, and a distributing circuit connected to the cathode of the rectifier and an intermediate point of the transformer.

10. A system of distribution comprising a supply circuit, a transformer connected connections for the anodes and the cathode of said rectifier to said source and a synchronously driven mechanical commutator disconnecting the anodes in turn from their supply terminals when said anodes respectively become negative and reestablishing the connection before they respectively become positive.

12. The combination of a source of alternating current, a mercury vapor device having a mercury cathode and a plurality of connecting anodes, connections from said source to said electrodes and means operating synchronously with reversal of said source for mechanically opening the anode circuits when said anodes respectively become negative and closing the circuit before the potential reverses.

18. In a rectifying apparatus, the combination of a circuit for unidirectional'current-impulses, means to open and close the circuit periodically, an asymmetrical current-passing device in parallel with said means, and means for connecting the circuit with a source of alternating current.

14. A system of distribution comprising a supply circuit, a distributing circuit, a rectifier having two anodes interposed between said circuits, and means for establishing a solid metallic conducting connection between said supply circuit and each anode alternately and completely severing said connection to one anode while the other anode is solidly connected to the supply circuit.

15. A system of distribution comprising" a supply circuit, a distributing circuit, a

rectifier having two anodes interposed besaid source to an anode and cathode of said rectifier and mechanically actuated means for increasing the resistance of the external anode circuit to electrical discharges through said circuit in both directions during an interval when said anode is of negative potential.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of February, 1912.

FRED W. 'LYLE. Witnesses:

JOHN A. MCMANUS, Jr., 7 FRANK G. HATTIE. 

